Christopher Elliot, a writer for the Dallas Morning News, recently penned a piece titled, “Some Americans have stopped tipping. Should you do the same?” The first sentence that came out of his brain and through his keyboard was this: “Tipping is dead.” He continues, “At least tipping, as you and I understand it. A mandatory 20 percent gratuity on every restaurant meal? Obligatory tips for housekeepers, concierges and tour guides? Kiss them goodbye.” Now, I’m not sure why Mr. Elliot decided to take on the entire service industry. Virtually all of the servers I’ve ever known – bartenders, waitstaff, even housekeepers and concierges – are hard-working individuals dedicated to making sure they do their jobs for those they serve. The ones who have to deal with the public are the ones who invariably take the most abuse. But all of them legitimately earn whatever gratuities they receive. Mr. Elliot continues with his reasoning: “An increasing number of Americans believe that tipping expectations are unfair, says Carla Bevins, an expert on business management communication at Carnegie Mellon University’s Tepper School of Business. And that’s led to a shift in public attitudes toward gratuities.” He continues to gripe about those portable payment terminals where you enter your tip (or lack thereof). He shows the slightest bit of empathy by suggesting that those service workers who depend upon gratuities to earn a living are “likely to suffer because of the understandable tipping backlash.” But that’s as far as he goes to show any understanding of the real human issue. I don’t know how Mr. Elliot was raised; I know nothing about what kind of a person he is. But I wasn’t raised like that. As someone who has spent decades playing music alongside servers, I have firsthand knowledge of how hard they work and the crap they have to endure. Mr. Elliot seems to have missed a valuable lesson in life. So I’ll clue him in: If you can’t afford to tip, you can’t afford to go out. It’s really that simple. The way the restaurant and bar economy works in these United States enables business owners to pay less than minimum wage under the assumption that the lion’s share of the server’s income will come from tips. Mr. Elliot continues to dig himself deeper as his little missive goes on. The penultimate section of the article is titled “How to avoid tipping.” The last of his three suggestions in this section shows a callous disregard for those who work in the service industry: “Refuse to tip.” He actually writes, “You can also send a message to a business about tipping by putting a zero in the tip line. (A) retired nurse who has stopped tipping, says the reaction from service workers has been one of resignation. It seems they know the system is broken, but they don’t know how to fix it.” No, Mr. Elliot. That’s not the reaction from service workers. They really don’t care about your errant opinions on the status of the system. The real reaction is that they’ve just spent all this time and effort serving a cheap S.O.B., and that their own personal income will suffer. Send a message to the business? Bollocks. The business still gets paid. It’s the server who gets stiffed. The undeniable bottom line that Mr. Elliot totally misses with his article is that unless there is a fundamental change in how restaurants, bars and the service industry in general do business, the people who will be affected most by his misguided opinions are the ones who can afford it the least. I assume that Mr. Elliot is proud of his little essay, as he wrote it and the paper published it. He should, however, be ashamed for his (perhaps unintended?) attack on some of the hardest-working people I’ve ever known. Finally, I would seriously recommend to Mr. Elliot that if he feels like going out for dinner or drinks, he should strongly reconsider and just stay home where he won’t have to feel so conflicted about tipping.
